2011 207 1.6hdi Stupid Maintenance Questions

[Nunthewiser]

I bought this car here in the motherland, France (my first Peugeot) about a month ago and have finally sorted the maintenance receipts (I'm the 4th owner, it would seem) and I have a few questions about service intervals and oils. The car has 193k km on it.

1) Peugeot recommends a ridiculous 120K km/10 year interval for a timing belt change. This one had a change 3 years 50k km ago, so it shouldn't need one yet. The question is when do they actually seem to break? Of course, one wouldn't want to get anywhere near that but why was such a long interval chosen?

2) I understand that the turbos on these engines are one of the weak points. Again, Peugeot recommends a ridiculously long period of time for an oil change. Is it imperative to use a name brand of oil in these engines, or does any oil that meets the Peugeot spec good enough? I would be in favor of changing it every 6000km or so if I was able to use ELeclerc brand oil (at 25 euros/change) vs Total etc (at 50 euros/change). They both meet the spec.

3) At what interval should one change the gearbox fluid? I don't think it was ever done on this car. And are there better gear oils to use to improve synchro function in this gearbox?...

thank you for your wisdom...

[GiveMeABreak]

1) For diesels this is pretty much a standard time as they are generally reliable, but most will change it at slightly earlier than the 10 years and of course will check the belt condition regularly.

2) Oil changes are now annually for most later vehicles (12k mile or annual servicing on later vehicles). Yours may be still on 20k miles being an older vehicle. Always use the recommended oil grade and specification for your engine. Check your vehicle using the official guide here:

viewtopic.php?p=768074#p768074

3) The manual gearboxes are generally 'sealed for life', but there are very few options for the manuals which use SAE 75W80.